


a little sweet and simple

by MeansToOffend (goodmorning)



Series: Pick Me Up (Again) [14]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF, Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: 2012-2013 HEA Season, 2017-2018 NHL Season, Boston College Eagles, F/M, Florida Panthers, Meet-Cute, PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, i love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24176968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmorning/pseuds/MeansToOffend
Summary: "Someone is skating laps, he realises as they pass the corner, tight to the boards but still gaining speed."
Relationships: Michael Matheson/Emily Pfalzer
Series: Pick Me Up (Again) [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1180688
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	a little sweet and simple

It’s his sixth rink day at BC, and Mike is still in awe about the size and scope of everything. There’s all this history, and campus is huge even if he only goes to three or four parts of it. It makes him wonder what he’d do if he was a normal incoming freshman, because he already relies heavily on his team. Johnny and Hayesy have both been incredibly helpful, in really different ways, and he’s thankful to have them around, most of the time at least.

It’s a good practice. Having ice right there on campus feels like a luxury sometimes, and maybe it’s that feeling, wanting to bask in it a little more, that has him heading back to the ice after he’s showered and changed, just to look at it, thinking maybe they’ll still have the zamboni out and he can watch as the evidence of his own skates gets washed clean by new water turning to new ice.

When he gets up there, though, the new ice has already been laid and re-frozen, and new cuts are already showing on the gleaming surface. Someone is skating laps, he realises as they pass the corner, tight to the boards but still gaining speed. It’s not until the skater whizzes right in front of his nose that he notices she’s a woman, blonde hair feathering out behind her as her skate blades slice true.

Mike’s phone buzzes distractingly in his pocket just as Johnny comes to find him.

\--

Emily likes to do her homework outside, during the parts of the year when that’s actually feasible. She’s not exactly inclined to freeze her fingers off, after all. They’re kind of important for holding a stick, and holding a stick is kind of important for her scholarship, her team, and her own sanity. She thinks a lot about what she’s going to do when college is over, about how she’ll be able to afford - in terms of both money and time - to keep in shape for the national team, about whether that team will even want her.

She has to believe she can keep going. Anything else would be too awful to consider.

At any rate, she’s working outside the rink today, because she has a late class after practice; there’s no point in going home between now and then, she knows from experience. It’s a distraction, with which she really won’t get this homework done in any kind of timely manner.

There are benches along the sidewalk, but she prefers sitting in the grass, feeling the sun on her back while there’s still grass to sit in and sun to feel. It’s a pretty quiet corner of campus, and once in a while she likes the feeling of being something close to alone on a campus with thousands of students.

When practice time rolls around, she’s almost done with her essay, so after standing and stretching, she balances her laptop in one arm and keeps typing as she walks.

Which, of course, means she walks right into someone and drops the damned thing.

“Oh, shit, are you okay?” he asks while she’s picking it up. He has a nice voice, and he sounds genuinely concerned rather than just annoyed she wasn’t looking where she was going, so he’s probably a nice person too.

She looks up from her laptop, which miraculously seems to have survived the impact with just a dent in the corner of the casing, and discovers that he’s attractive, too. He looks athletic; despite being at least a foot taller he doesn’t look gangly at all. In fact, given his thighs, she’d be willing to bet he skates, which is even better.

And he’s blushing, which is just too cute.

“I’m fine,” she says. “Sorry for running into you.”

“It’s no problem,” he says, smiling, and she could listen to him talk for a while except-

“Shit, I’m going to be late for practice,” she says, snapping her laptop shut and stuffing it in her bag. Tall, cute, and ginger looks almost sad, so she adds, “I’ll have time for a real conversation in a couple hours. I was going to grab a sandwich at Hillside, if you have time to meet me there?”

He brightens instantly. She’s honestly never met anyone so easy to read. “I’ll be there,” he says, and she waves as she dashes into the rink.

When she flings herself into Hillside, he’s already there, grinning like he’s won the damn lottery.

\--

The Olympics are a big deal, and while most of the guys are pissed that they can’t go, Mike is just ridiculously thrilled for Em. He watches her games as often as he can, despite being on their Western Canada roadtrip. The only good thing about it is the time zone: sometimes she’s pregame when he’s postgame, and he likes being able to wish her good luck before he falls asleep.

Luckily, they’re home before the gold medal game starts. Granted, it’s at 11, he’s jetlagged, and there’s a game tomorrow night, one that’ll weigh heavy on the team and on the community, but he knows even if he goes to bed there’s no way he’ll sleep.

Late in the game, with the US down 2-1, Em has a great keep-in, and an even better defensive play on a 2-on-1 with no other blue jerseys back. It’s an easy save for Rooney, directly leading to a 1-on-0 the other way, and Mike’s never been so happy to see Canada lose a lead in his life.

It gets to the shootout, and he’s even more excited when she actually gets to take a shot. Even though she doesn’t quite get the backhand up, it’s still a pretty damn good attempt for a defender. And in the end it doesn’t matter anyway - the US wins, and he watches so proudly as they mob the goalie, stroking the box in his pocket every time he manages to pick her out of the crowd.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Title from "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World, which has been the Panthers' goal song for a couple seasons now.  
> \- The weirdest feeling in RPF is writing an actual "canon" pairing and it was so fun.  
> \- They did meet at BC, they both played hockey there until 2015. They got engaged in 2018 and married in 2019. Pfalzer took Matheson's name but for simplicity's sake I'm using Pfalzer in these end notes.  
> \- Yes, I namedropped Johnny Gaudreau and Kevin Hayes into this, because they were both at BC at the time.  
> \- "Hillside" refers to the Hillside Cafe, which is one of the campus dining options currently. I have no idea if it was there at the time but it's super close to the rink so artistic license I guess?  
> \- BC has a synchronized skating club team, which practices in the same rink as everyone else. There was supposed to be an "are you a figure skater" comedy of errors bit in here but _too much length._ So this research turned out to be unnecessary.  
> \- [“We’ve had the chance on an off day off to go out on the ice and shoot the puck,” said Matheson. “A couple of times we’ve played some one-on-one and I’m never really able to get by her.”](https://www.nhlpa.com/news/1-16451/friendly-competition-bonds-matheson-pfalzer)  
> \- All the schedule stuff in the last section, and all the play-by-play for the gold medal game, is real. At least, as best as I can manage with the time zones and the 1k limit. The "heavy" first home game back was [a little more than just heavy.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHIlmjQZUB4) I could easily have spent another 1k words on that alone.  
> \- Speaking of word limits, the sections are 250/500/250. The perspective is a 50-50 split because I wasn't sure which would be harder to write (both, it's both).


End file.
